http://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2013-05-21T14:27:00ZTransportation providers would be smart to heed riders' expectations for smartphone e-tickets and social media communications, finds Accenture study.http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/public-transit-users-demand-digital-serv/240155317?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smb<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/enterprise-applications/ibm-smarter-cities-challenge-10-towns-ra/240142572"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/913/01_Smarter_Cities_tn.jpg" alt="IBM Smarter Cities Challenge: 10 Towns Raise Tech IQs" title="IBM Smarter Cities Challenge: 10 Towns Raise Tech IQs" class="img175" /></a><br /><div class="storyImageTitle">IBM Smarter Cities Challenge: 10 Towns Raise Tech IQs</div><span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> A new global report from management consultancy Accenture highlights how high passenger expectation is rising for interactive services on public commuter transportation. <P> <a href="http://newsroom.accenture.com/news/public-transportation-users-predict-big-increases-in-the-use-of-smartphones-paperless-travel-and-social-media-new-accenture-survey-reveals.htm?c=prod_fy13q1twt_10000142&n=smc_0413&sf13042297=1">The study</a>, released Tuesday, suggests travelers expect to have the capability to use their mobile phones as electronic tickets as early as this year, for example, and they have equally high expectations of public transit when it comes to communications via social media. <P> The study suggests 52% of global public transit users would be willing to pay at least 10% more for technological improvements, such as using a smartphone as an e-ticket. Meanwhile, fewer than 25% percent of consumers surveyed said they receive communication from public transportation companies via social media on a daily basis, but 90% said they would like to hear about the latest ticket prices and promotions, late-running trains and alerts, changes in timetables, and new technology through such channels. <P> On a global basis, Accenture found little difference across age groups on social media acceptance. Of respondents over 65 years old, 63% say they intend to (or already) follow public transportation providers on Facebook and 42% on Twitter. <P> <strong>[ Can analytics lead to a smoother commute? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/dublin-points-big-data-tech-at-traffic-jams/240155213?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Dublin Points Big Data Tech At Traffic Jams</a>. ]</strong> <P> Meanwhile, local differences shine through: only 44% of New Yorkers say they would be inclined to switch to paperless travel for environmental reasons, compared to 61% of Los Angelinos. In London (perhaps unsurprising to those of us used to the unique peccadilloes of its transport systems), 83% would like to see punctuality as the biggest public transit improvement they would like to see. (Hear hear!) <P> The pressure is now on for transit planners to deliver against these technology-based demands, said Accenture. "Consumer technology is driving a huge expectation for flexible travel -- an expectation that transit agencies cannot afford to ignore," said Philippe Guittat, global managing director of Accenture's transportation practice. <P> The consultancy said that it's not referring to so-called "smart transportation," though, when it talks about new ways of improving traveller experience through tech. "We generally use the word 'smart' in this report when referring to innovative technologies that can aid consumer interaction with a transport operator's services," Mark Elliot, Accenture U.K. travel and transportation lead, told <em>InformationWeek</em>. <P> "'Smart transportation' seems to be a broader concept that encompasses all manner of intelligent systems available to a transport operator, both operational as well as customer facing, like open payment technologies that meet changing consumer needs and result in faster customer experiences," Elliot said. <P> Instead, he said, the study's focus is more on the changing consumer and how passengers' preference for more digital interaction with transport operators will "change the face of transport over the coming years." <P> The lesson for transit chiefs that don't want to raise the technology bar? They risk "further frustrating consumers," Elliot warned, as well as missing out on opportunities to better engage with each passenger throughout their daily lives "before, during and after their journeys." <P> IT professionals working in transit need to to think about being "fundamentally digital," he said. "Mobile and digital will touch every interaction consumers have with your business. As a result, expectations will increasingly be for every service you offer to be digitally enabled and transparent to the consumer." <P> Elliot also suggested transit sector IT leaders should look to harness both <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/small-data-beat-big-data-in-election-2012/240062584">big and small data</a>, as the digitization of an operator's business will create a flood of rich information sources at all sorts of levels. Finally, IT chiefs should get ready to be "agile and move at consumer speed," as being customer-centric means nothing if you can't move at speed. <P> All in all, he advised, "Do not underestimate the growing power of the passenger and their ability to exploit online networks such as social media." <P> Accenture's analysis is based on a survey of 4,500 urban travelers in nine major cities in Brazil, France, Germany, South Korea, Spain, the U.K. and the United States in August, September and December 2012. It also performed a September 2012 European passenger rail survey to understand expectations in terms of information and technology, involving 3,600 travelers in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the U.K., and gathered data from a rail survey of 4,211 frequent and occasional travelers from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. in the same timeframe.2013-05-21T11:48:00ZLawmakers are increasingly targeting the tax practices of big companies like Apple and Google. But should the focus be on the rules of international business?http://www.informationweek.com/government/policy/debate-grows-over-big-tech-taxes/240155289?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbThe public <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/internet/google/british-mps-attack-google-on-taxes/240155127">grilling of a Google representative</a> by British MPs last week over allegedly playing fast and loose with tax on its substantial profits has been criticized by a former White House staffer. <P> "Putting someone in front of a panel and yelling at them is a substitute for change," one-time secretary of labor <a href=" http://robertreich.org/">Robert Reich</a> told the <a href=" http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sj1sm">BBC this morning</a>. <P> That's not to say that Reich is a supporter of the kind of sharp accounting that the British arms of Google, Amazon and even Starbucks have faced in the past few months -- quite the opposite, in fact. Reich simply feels that politicians like Brit MP Margaret Hodge and her committee telling Google it actually is "evil" is bad tactics. <P> "It's a cheap way of convincing the public something is getting done," he said. "Companies like Google are simply playing one country off against another country, so countries, including the U.K., need to band together to broker tax treaties and agreements to stop this, as all these companies care about is getting their taxes down." <P> <strong>[ For more on lawmakers' grilling of Google execs, see <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/british-mps-attack-google-on-taxes/240155127?itc=edit_in_body_cross">British MPs Attack Google On Taxes</a>. ]</strong> <P> Reich's contribution is part of a growing debate on both sides of the Atlantic over the issue of how best to tax U.S.-based tech firms that nimbly move profits around to radically minimize their tax exposure. <P> In Britain last week, Google was in the crosshairs -- so much so that the search giant's CEO, Eric Schmidt, went <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/18/google-tax-reform-eric-schmidt"> on the record over the weekend</a> to suggest he supports the U.K. government leading an international debate about reforming business taxation. <P> In an article for British Sunday newspaper <i>The Observer</i>, Schmidt wrote, "At a time when families are having to tighten their belts and funding for vital public services is under pressure, corporate taxation is rightly a hot topic. And as a company that has always aspired to do the right thing, we understand why Google is at the center of that debate." <P> Now, in Washington, the spotlight has circled to Apple, which in <a href="http://images.apple.com/pr/pdf/Apple_Testimony_to_PSI.pdf ">a prepared submission</a> told another hostile committee of lawmakers that it does not use "tax gimmicks" and indeed "pays an extraordinary amount in U.S. taxes." <P> But even as policymakers berate companies alleged to be egregious about slick accounting, a growing chorus of business leaders agree with Reich and Schmidt and believe that reform efforts should be directed smack back at legislators. <P> That view is shared by the head of U.K. business organization the <a href=" http://www.cbi.org.uk/about-the-cbi/">Confederation for British Industry</a> Sir Roger Carr, who on Monday <a href="http://www.cbi.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/2013/05/cbi-president-calls-on-g8-to-prioritise-trade-and-move-forward-the-international-taxation-debate/">called on politicians to adapt the rules</a> that allow companies like Apple and Google to so easily expatriate their profits. "If you want a different outcome," Carr said, "the rules must be rewritten to achieve the change that is required." <P> Carr elaborated on this in <a href=" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/10069505/Political-attacks-on-tax-avoidance-could-damage-Britain-CBIs-Roger-Carr-warns.html ">an interview with <i>The Daily Telegraph</i></a>. "As politicians pursue fairness, it is important that any criticisms are grounded in fact and hasty solutions or political point-scoring do not trigger long term unintended consequences," he said. "Tax avoidance cannot be about morality [but] should be calculated in keeping with the law of the land." <P> That's a clear reference to companies like Google and Apple, who say their actions are completely consistent with <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/government/policy/google-to-uk-dont-snipe-about-our-tax-ra/240153338">international finance rules as they now stand</a>. <P> In his Sunday comment piece, Schmidt said, "Our hope is to move the debate forward, with everyone engaged constructively in developing a clearer, simpler system -- one in which companies that abide by the law know that the politicians who devised the rules are willing to defend and commend them. Politicians -- not companies -- set the rules." <P> Interestingly, both Carr and Schmidt attended a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday to discuss global business problems -- though members of the British press were specifically told that the issue of Google's tax affairs would not be discussed. <P> <i>Urban transformation requires IT innovation. Here's how five U.S. cities are forging ahead. Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/042213gov?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Future Cities</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: Video surveillance provided valuable clues to the Boston Marathon bombings, serving as a lesson to other cities. (Free registration required.)</i>2013-05-20T15:38:00ZSkyscape Cloud Services will partner with Indian consulting group Tata to provide security for U.K.'s new online criminal background check system.http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/platform/british-cloud-firm-wins-background-check/240155243?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smb<a href="http://www.skyscapecloud.com/">Skyscape Cloud Services</a>, a British cloud SMB, has won a &#163;1.5 million ($2.3 million) annual contract to provide security for the background check system British citizens use to reveal any criminal records to prospective employers. <P> Following a number of high-profile tragedies, applicants for posts, particularly those that involve working with young people, are now required to reveal any criminal histories. The Home Office (the U.K. equivalent to the Department of Justice) is phasing out older processes set up to do that in favor of a new online system called the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service/about">Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)</a>. The DBS runs on the new unified public sector URL, <a href=" http://www.informationweek.co.uk/whitehall-achieves-important-digital-pre/240154004?queryText=GOV.UK ">GOV.UK</a>. <P> The DBS's purpose is to disclose to prospective employers any run-ins or convictions that might bar applicants from certain positions. Records involving abuse of any kind, for example, might preclude an applicant from working with children. <P> <strong>[ U.K. government needs to do a better job of using the data it collects to improve public services. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/uk-has-10-billion-of-public-data-study-concludes/240155078?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K. Has $10 Billion Of Public Data, Study Concludes</a>. ]</strong> <P> Beginning in April 2014, the service will be run not by government, but by Indian outsourcer <a href=" http://www.tcs.com/Pages/default.aspx">Tata Consulting Services</a>. The partnership, announced last <a href="http://www.tcs.com/news_events/press_releases/Pages/TCS_multi-million_pound_contract_UK_Home_Office.aspx">November</a>, promises an estimated four million annual DBS applicants electronic applications and "improved online services to enhance [their] experience." <P> Skyscape, which will back the Tata version of the DBS, markets itself as offering 'assured' (secure) cloud to the <a href=" http://gcloud.civilservice.gov.uk/2012/03/09/so-what-is-il3-a-short-guide-to-business-impact-levels/"> high IL3 (Impact Level 3)</a> level to government and other public sector users. Monetary loss of data that is deemed to be at IL3 level protection is defined as equaling millions of pounds -- or, by another metric, would "disadvantage a major U.K. company" in any international trade negotiations. <P> According to Skyscape, no user data ever leaves its U.K.-based data centers -- an important flag to fly in a country where security fears, especially among public servants, have been hobbling adoption of the cloud. "This is a significant step forward for the use of cloud in Britain, as this is one of the first public-facing, front office apps on GOV.UK that will use cloud," Skyscape CEO Phil Dawson told <i>Information Week</i>. <P> The contract with Skyscape was awarded via the G-Cloud Framework, the <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/cloud-computing/infrastructure/uk-government-mandates-cloud-first-it-pr/240154377">British government cloud</a>. Dawson's team said Skyscape was chosen over "a major service integrator" as well as other G-Cloud offerings. <P> Beyond today's announcement, Skyscape claims HMRC (the British equivalent to the IRS) as a customer, along with Government Digital Services, the body that built and runs GOV.UK. The Hampshire-based firm says it is also working on "over 100 projects across central government, local authorities, police, healthcare and other publicly funded bodies." <P> Skyscape partners with firms like VMware, Cisco and EMC, adding its assured cloud connectivity to their solutions. Describing the company as "one of our key partners in delivering cloud services to the U.K. public sector," VMware's head of public services Cliff Keast said, "This significant win further validates the adoption of cloud by government organizations as they strive to reduce costs and deliver better service to the public." <P> <i>The latest open source movement aims to be the platform of choice for hybrid clouds -- and the anti-VMware. Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.networkcomputing.com/nwcdigital/050613?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">OpenStack Steps Up</a> issue of Network Computing: With all the noise around the "what" and "how" of software-defined networking, many people forget the "why." (Free registration required.)</i>2013-05-20T12:34:00ZBusinesses beware: Employees prefer using Facebook to SharePoint and other IT-driven collaboration platforms, finds global study by Avanade U.K.http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/facebook-ranks-top-enterprise-collaborat/240155185?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smb<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/news/galleries/social_networking_consumer/linkedin-10-important-changes/240154479"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/990/LinkedIn-original-screen_birthday-hat_01_tn.jpg" alt="LinkedIn: 10 Important Changesr" title="LinkedIn: 10 Important Changes" class="img175" /></a><br /> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">LinkedIn: 10 Important Changes</div> </div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->CIOs who allow their staffs to drive their entire social media-driven collaboration strategies risk endangering their organizations, warns the U.K. arm of the joint Accenture-Microsoft joint venture <a href="http://www.avanade.com/en-uk/Pages/default.aspx">Avanade</a>. <P> Why would they even let that happen? After all, companies like Avanade parent Microsoft have been successfully seeding enterprises with tools like SharePoint for many years. <P> The problem: while CIOs, aided by firms like Avanade, have been providing enterprise-caliber tools, no one's been doing much collaboration work with them. This has left a huge vacuum that Avanade says is being rapidly filled with homegrown, grassroots-driven, consumer-based technology instead. <P> "To be led completely by your workforce when it comes to collaboration is asking to end up with a completely undisciplined and unmanageable environment," Andrew Barber, deputy lead in the collaboration practice of the global consulting firm's British arm, told <em>InformationWeek</em>. <P> "It's very easy to let your corporate data end up on Facebook. Whether you should is quite a different matter." <P> <strong>[ Are we seeing the end of "social" as a unique category? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/news/industry_analysis/social-business-not-dead-just-business-a/240154840?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Social Business Not Dead, Just Business As Usual</a>. ]</strong> <P> Barber's team released on Monday the results of a <a href="http://www.avanade.com/socialcollaboration">global study of enterprise social collaboration trends</a> that, if nothing else, backs up his observation that, "A lot of current collaboration is about people bringing the tools they work with at home into the office." <P> Indicating a sort of "bring your own software" dynamic, Avanade's data shows Facebook is a collaboration platform twice as popular as SharePoint -- 74% to 39%. It's also four times more popular than IBM Open Connections (17%) and six times more popular than Salesforce's Chatter (12%). <P> The study, of 4,000 users and 1,000 business and IT decision-makers in 22 countries, also said 77% of managers and 68% of users say they now use some form of enterprise social networking technology. IT decision makers said such social technologies make their jobs more enjoyable (66%), more productive (62%) and "help them get work done faster" (57%). All in all, said Avanade, of those businesses currently using social collaboration tools, 82% want to use more of them in the future. <P> But which ones? The study claimed, perhaps somewhat optimistically, that decision makers planning to adopt social technologies put SharePoint and Chatter (tied at 23%) at the top of their list of collaboration deployments planned in the coming year. Thus, though Facebook is ranked number one among social collaboration technologies in use today (74%), when asked what social tools businesses want to adopt in the next year, "Facebook fell to the very end of the list with only eight percent of decision-makers respondents noting it as a priority," <a href="http://www.avanade.com/us/about/avanade-news/press-releases/Pages/global-survey-enterprise-social-collaboration-on-the-rise-but-consumer-social-technologies-are-driving-todays-adoption-page.aspx">said Avanade</a> in a statement. <P> However, Barber admitted that IT-led, SharePoint-centric collaboration projects don't always succeed. Instead, he offered up Yammer, now also a part of the Microsoft technology stack, as a potentially more successful tool for CIOs to offer. "In many ways, that's a model of how grassroots-led collaboration can work really well, and add in the social flavor of workplace conversations in a much less dangerous way than letting people just go straight to Facebook," he said Monday. <P> For the study, Avanade interviewed 1,000 C-suite executives, business unit leaders and senior decision makers in the IT departments of organizations with at least 1,000 employees, in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the Nordics, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. It also polled 4,000 end users in organizations of 500 employees or more in all the same countries except for Brazil. All fieldwork was conducted between March 13 and April 16.2013-05-20T12:16:00ZNetwork promises speeds of up 70 Mbps and could be in 60% of all businesses and homes by end of 2015.http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/3g/ireland-launches-new-national-broadband/240155215?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smb<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/telecom/voip/6-great-skype-alternatives/240153014"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/979/UC_large_blue_tn.png" alt="6 Great Skype Alternatives" title="6 Great Skype Alternatives" class="img175" /></a><br /><div class="storyImageTitle">6 Great Skype Alternatives</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for slideshow)</span> </div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->Irish telecommunications company <a href="http://www.eircom.net/group/">Eircom</a> has announced the deployment of a new &#8364;400 million ($608 million) national fiber-optic network it says is up 10 times faster than currently available broadband. The new network was available to roughly 300,000 homes and businesses on Monday, and Eircom said its goal was to double that number to 600,000 by the end of 2013. When fully deployed, in early 2015, the network will reach 1.2 million -- or 60% of -- Irish homes and businesses. <P> The new network will provide download speeds of up to 70 megabits per second, according to <a href="http://pressroom.eircom.net/press_releases/article/An_Taoiseach_Launches_eircoms_National_Fibre_Network/">Eircom</a>, a Dublin-headquartered firm. That means customers using the network will see a six to 10 time improvement in their current broadband download speeds, "transforming their online experience," said the company. Eircom said it will be the largest fiber-optic network in the country, and the speed will increase to 100 Mbps within the next year. <P> The network, officially switched on by Irish prime minister Enda Kenny at the end of last week, is open access, which means other providers can offer services on top. The company also says it will open the last mile to competitors, following a February ruling from the <a href="https://www.comreg.ie/about_us/about_us.472.html">Irish communications regulator, ComReg</a>, to bring the service into line with overall European Union strictures on broadband service provision. <P> <strong>[ What is Britain doing about its "not spots"? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/uk-appoints-builder-of-rural-mobile-boos/240154748?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K. Appoints Builder Of Rural Mobile Booster Network</a>. ]</strong> <P> At the time, ComReg noted that, "Next-generation broadband services will play an important role in the development of the Irish economy and society and will contribute to achieving the European and national targets for the EU Digital Agenda and National Broadband Plan." <P> Similar national renewal sentiments were echoed by Kenny at the launch event. "Superfast broadband will support new enterprise and investment that will in turn create new jobs across the country," he said. "By working together with industry partners and policy makers for the greater good of the country, Eircom is playing its part in rebuilding the country's economic competitiveness which will underpin our sustained recovery." <P> "Our network is good for consumers, good for businesses and good for Ireland," claimed Eircom group CEO Herb Hribar. <P> Hribar's new network is a combination of the two most popular fiber delivery options, so-called fiber to the cabinet, FTTC, and fiber to the premises, FTTP -- hence the combined moniker for the system, FTTx. The hybrid will use a mix of fiber and copper VDSL2 connections to deliver the promised superfast broadband to the country. <P> Like many European telcos, Eircom, which says it has a customer base of around two million, is looking for a hook to grab people's interest, a mission perhaps made more challenging given the fact so many people are still suffering the effects of the 2008 collapse of the "Celtic Tiger" economy. <P> In addition to building the new network, Eircom is working on launching a new IPTV service for the island, but so far there is no date for when that will be available. For now, it offers <a href=https://secure.eircom.net/bundles/>eFiber</a>, the brand name for a set of bundled cell, landline and broadband access services to run off the new fast network. A current promotion offers the package for &#8364;24.79 ($31.88) to businesses and &#8364;40 ($51.46) for consumers.2013-05-20T09:06:00ZBritish project manager and programmer creates service that lets frustrated customers bypass call center phone menus.http://www.informationweek.com/services/voice/british-it-pro-cracks-call-center-menus/240155107?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbA British IT project manager and former COBOL programmer has become so frustrated with IVR (interactive voice recognition) he's set up a free website to help other call center users save time. <P> "If you call HMRC [the British equivalent to the IRS], it can take you six minutes listening to all the waffle before you can start doing anything useful," self-described "call center menu enthusiast" Nigel Clarke told <i>Information Week</i>. "The website should be the place for that kind of thing, not the call." He also estimates that HMRC offers no fewer than seven menu levels, including 80 options. <P> Clarke, who has worked in IT for organizations including the U.K. arm of insurer Prudential, has been studying the somewhat obscure "science" of the call center IVR taxonomy for about seven years. Through that research, he said, he's logged more than 12,000 calls and has worked out the menu structure of more than 130 prominent British retail, financial and government organizations, including HMRC, Argo, EasyJet, BT, HSBC and the NHS. <P> <strong>[ When it comes to taxes, Parliament says Google and Amazon are not paying their fair share. Read more at <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/british-mps-attack-google-on-taxes/240155127?itc=edit_in_body_cross">British MPs Attack Google On Taxes</a>. ]</strong> <P> Armed with this arcane but possibly useful knowledge, Clarke set up a website called <a href="http://www.pleasepress1.com/">Please Press 1</a>, which offers a free directory that allows callers to skip ahead and go directly where they need to go instead of plowing that, er, "waffle." <P> As one of the U.K.'s busiest call centers, HMRC gets 79 million calls per year. That means U.K. taxpayers could potentially end up spending 4.3 million working hours simply navigating menus, Clarke estimates. But with better menu design, he said, at least 3 million caller hours could be saved just at HMRC. <P> Other examples of egregious IVR design include Lloyds Bank (78 menu options over 7 levels) and retailer Sainsbury's (29 menu options over 6 levels). Buying a TV off the Argos system, Clarke said, will take you 2 minutes and 7 seconds as you punch your way through 73 menu options over some five levels. "I've been working in IT for over 30 years, and nothing gets me riled up like having my time wasted through inefficient design," he said. <P> In terms of cost, Clarke says that combined navigation time across all British call centers could be costing U.K. consumers as much as &#163;100 million ($152 million) in phone charges every year. (He calculated this by a sum involving 40 million adults in the country making 24 calls per year to call centers, or over 960 million calls.) <P> In the service's launch announcement, one beta user described it as "the biggest breakthrough this side of the Enigma machine," referring to the breaking of that fiendishly hard Wehrmacht coding device by British spymasters in WWII. According to Clarke, nearly 70% of the British call centers he researched also employ lengthy introductions or additional advertising between menu options. "Some might say this is the modern equivalent of Dante's circles of Hell," he added. <P> Clarke has also started studying the U.S. market. You may or may not be cheered to hear his verdict: "In America they use too much speech recognition -- which, if anything, is even more hated than IVR." <P> <i>Find out six questions you must ask when deciding whether to move your telephony system to a hosted VoIP provider, including questions about reliability, branch survivability, E911 capability and whether you&#8217;re looking for additional collaboration services. Get the <a href="http://www.networkcomputing.com/tech-center/nextgennetwork/download?id=189801425&cat=whitepaper&popup=true&download=true?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe">Is Hosted VoIP Right For You?</a> report today. (Free registration required.)</i>2013-05-17T11:18:00ZBritish politicians criticize Google and Amazon for failing to pay enough taxes in a country where they are reaping great rewards.http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/british-mps-attack-google-on-taxes/240155127?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smb<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-apps-to-microsoft-office-365-10-l/240154989"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/993/GoogleApps_Office365_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google Apps To Microsoft Office 365: 10 Lessons" title="Google Apps To Microsoft Office 365: 10 Lessons" class="img175" /></a><br /><div class="storyImageTitle">Google Apps To Microsoft Office 365: 10 Lessons</div><span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> Three weeks ago, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt went on British radio to ask the nation to <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/policy/google- to-uk-dont-snipe-about-our-tax-ra/240153338">stop giving his company such a hard time</a> over how little U.K. business tax it seems to pay. <P> Well, looks like his plea didn't really convince either British lawmakers or newspaper editors -- who both went to war with his firm, as well as the British arm of e-commerce behemoth Amazon, Thursday on the issue. <P> The problem: U.K. commentators seem to be increasingly uneasy that at a time of austerity to pay down debt, U.S.-based tech firms seem to be enjoying great success while paying what seems like next to no taxes for the privilege of doing business in that country. <P> <strong>[ In the meantime, Google keeps enhancing its services. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/news/social_networking_consumer/google-gets-5-smart-changes/240155023?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google+ Gets 5 Smart Changes</a>. ]</strong> <P> So while Wall Street is told that, respectively, the companies made &#163;3.2 billion ($4.9 billion) and &#163;4.2 billion ($6.4 billion) out of their British operations last year, in the U.K., according to data published in a register called <a href="http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/">Companies House</a>, they paid a mere &#163;3.4 million ($5.2 million) and &#163;3.2 million ($4.9 million), respectively, back to the state. That means Amazon got away with a corporate tax charge of a very modest 5.58%, for instance. <P> British customers account for more than one in every 10 dollars of sales for both companies, which grew their U.K. sales by a very healthy 20% last year. In addition, Amazon got &#163;100,000 ($152,000) more in handouts from the British government -- &#163;2.5 million ($3.8 million) -- than it paid in such taxes. (It is likely the money was funneled towards Amazon U.K. activities like a new distribution center in Hemel Hempstead and the opening of a set of offices near London's so-called "Silicon Roundabout.") <P> All this was the setting for some very sharp exchanges before a committee of British Members of Parliament. Google was outright accused of being "devious, calculated" and "unethical" by the group's chair, Margaret Hodge. <P> Indeed, Hodge sniped at the firm's European boss using his own company's famous mantra, "Don't Be Evil." She said: "I think that you do do evil." <P> Meanwhile, though no representatives of Amazon appeared before Hodge's Committee, which is <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news/evidence-session-tax-avoidance-large-corporations/">investigating tax avoidance by large corporations</a>, they may well be asked to appear later. Instead, Hodge's ire was directed mainly at Google's VP of sales and operations for Northern and Central Europe, Matt Brittin, who stuck to the same line of defense outlined last month: Google abides by the law, pays what it needs to, and so forth. <P> Google claims that that "all" its activities "really" happen in Ireland, which means that British Google is merely a service operation for that office and hence can legitimately escape direct taxation inside Great Britain. But many observers feel the committee scored an effective point by getting Brittin to talk about Google U.K. staffers' ability to close sales or not. <P> However, Hodge and her team claimed they had different information on the matter from insiders -- a claim that led to some quite strange discussions with Brittin over what constitutes sales "commission" versus a "bonus." (Amazon also routes all of its European activities through Dublin for the same reason, as do many U.S. multinationals operating in Europe.) <P> The growing political pressure raises the question of how much longer these companies can continue to do business here in quite the same way. A British member of the House of Lords, Lord Oakeshott, yesterday <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/16/google-told-by-mp-you-do-do-evil">told <em>The Guardian</em></a>, "Clearly Google [is] driving a coach and horses through the spirit of the law." He called on Prime Minister David Cameron to remove Schmidt from a special business advisory council to show that his government is serious about fighting "tax dodgers."2013-05-16T15:11:00ZU.K. needs to plow the valuable public-sector data it collects back into better services and drive economic growth, says British government study.http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/uk-has-10-billion-of-public-data-study-concludes/240155078?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smb<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/20-top-masters-degrees-for-big-data-analytics-professionals/240145673"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/934/IntroImage_tn.jpg" alt=" Big Data Analytics Masters Degrees: 20 Top Programs" title=" Big Data Analytics Masters Degrees: 20 Top Programs" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle"> Big Data Analytics Masters Degrees: 20 Top Programs</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --><p>An independent study commissioned by the U.K. government to measure its progress in making use of public-sector data concludes headway is being made -- but that the pace needs to pick up. <P> "We definitely have a lot further to go," the study's author, Stephan Shakespeare, told <em>InformationWeek</em>. "The government's been pretty good at vision. But great ideas around public sector data need a much clearer implementation plan to become reality," he said. <P> The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/shakespeare-review-of-public-sector-information">study</a> outlines recommendations for how the British can best use public sector information to improve government services and unlock economic growth. It could also be raw material for future industries, according to Shakespeare. "If we're clever here, there's no reason why the next Google can't come from the U.K. -- and not America," he said. <P> <strong>[ Some U.K. government data collection is not appreciated. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/government/security/uk-big-brother-bill-blocked--for-n/240153755?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K. 'Big Brother' Bill Blocked -- For Now</a>. ]</strong> <P> In the meantime, Shakespeare, chairman of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/data-strategy-board">Data Strategy Board</a>, which acts to create maximum value for U.K. business and citizens from data, and CEO of online market research group <a href="http://yougov.co.uk/">YouGov</a>, is focusing on how government can use the data better to improve its own services. His analysis, which took six months to create, says the government should be able to take the information it collects from taxpayers, state healthcare patients and citizens in general and turn it into useful applications. <P> Open data already is helping Brits, he says. For instance, live bus travel data supplied by <a href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/businessandpartners/syndication/">Transport for London</a> is saving Londoners as much as &#163;58 million ($89 million) year by helping them plan better routes. With luck, that's just the start of Britain properly mastering the data of its own public services. In the future, Shakespeare sees data being plowed into increasing numbers of innovations from self-driving cars and less expensive healthcare to faster government investment in education because top-performing schools are identified more quickly. <P> But Britain won't get there just by a few "cute apps or mashups," warned Shakespeare. Instead, concerted effort needs to be made: "Britain has a competitive advantage in that we have centralized public services that collect vast amounts of data," he said. The problem is that the value of those data piles remains "largely untapped." If the U.K. plays it right, it can break free of the shackles of a low-growth economy and "rather than being seen as an obstacle," government can become a key driver in a "transformative process" for the country, he said. <P> The government has been <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-funding-to-accelerate-benefits-of-open-data">singing the praises of open data</a> for some time, Shakespeare noted. The next step, he said, is a new "national data strategy" that recognizes public sector information is "derived from and paid for by the citizen, and therefore should be made as open as possible to create the maximum value to the nation." <P> The study recommends two changes in the way government handles the data it collects. First, it needs to release data more quickly, "even if it is imperfect." At the same time, it needs to improve the quality and usability of that <a href="http://data.gov.uk/">data</a> for wider use by publishing it in a format easy to use by individuals, the non-profit sector and business, said Shakespeare. The latter means the government has to invest in data analysis training within its own ranks and investing in better university education on the topic. <P> The report also said government needs to allay fears that citizen data is unsafe in its hands. To dispel the public's fears -- such as the recent belief that millions of patients' data was being "sold" to foreign firms -- Shakespeare calls for <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/health-secretary-to-strengthen-patient-privacy-on-confidential-data-use">">"maximum use" of data security technologies.</a> He also suggested higher penalties for misuse of public sector information, including heavier fines and imprisonment in cases of any proven "deliberate and harmful misuse of data." <P> "I believe that with this in place we can shore up trust in the system, and help alleviate some of the fear that has been holding us back," he said. <P> The study included business advisory Deloitte's estimate that the direct value of the kind of data Shakespeare is talking about is at least &#163;1.8 billion ($2.8 billion), and could be as much as &#163;6.8 billion ($10.4 billion) if wider social and economic value is factored in. <P> If it follows the study's recommendations, "the U.K. will be well placed to enjoy the full potential of [public sector information] and [will] cement its world-leading position at the forefront of the open data and transparency agenda," said Costi Perricos, head of public sector analytics at Deloitte. <P> <i>E2 is the only event of its kind, bringing together business and technology leaders across IT, marketing and other lines of business looking for new ways to evolve their enterprise applications strategy and transform their organizations to achieve business value. Join us June 17-19 for three days of 40+ conference sessions and workshops across eight tracks, and discover the latest insights in enterprise social software, big data and analytics, mobility, cloud, SaaS and APIs, UI/UX and more. <a href="http://www.e2conf.com/boston/?_mc=MP_BTMEDIWKAXE">Register for E2 Conference Boston today</a> and save $200 off Full Event Passes, $100 off Conference, or get a FREE Keynote + Expo Pass! </i>2013-05-16T15:00:00ZX-ray-based imaging system uses computer modeling to create virtual versions of ancient scrolls, allowing researchers access to never-before-seen documents.http://www.informationweek.com/education/data-management/new-imaging-system-reads-ancient-scrolls/240155079?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbResearchers at London University's <a href=" http://www.qmul.ac.uk/">Queen Mary College</a> and <a href=" http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/">Cardiff University</a> have used a combination of X-rays and computer modeling to offer historians something they could never have dreamed of: a way to read ancient parchments so fragile they cannot be unrolled. <P> The result: a system called <a href="http://www.apocalypto.org.uk">Apocalypto</a> that lets researchers read the unreadable by creating a virtual version of the documents. <P> In the pre-digital age, the project's researchers explained, people wrote on parchment paper that was very expensive at the time. For that reason, the pages, also known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsest">palimpsests</a>, were often used over and over again. <P> Made of organic materials like paper, cloth, and even bark, the scrolls were surprisingly long-lasting, but they were still vulnerable to the passage of time. And while digitization of material means that they can now be preserved and shared more easily, a lot of ancient scrolls are very fragile. That means they're safe as long as we don't mess with them, but if we try to open them they will crumble. <P> <strong>[ Will U.K. green initiative result in more efficient data centers? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/data-centers/data-centers-may-benefit-as-uk-invests-i/240154411?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Data Centers May Benefit As U.K. Invests In Green</a>. ]</strong> <P> Hence Apocalypto, a &#163;1.3 million ($1.9 million) collaboration between scientists and historians to find ways to safely access data on degraded, at-risk heritage material. <P> Paper and parchment (animal skin stretched finely enough to write on) documents -- especially those that have been inscribed with metallic-based, or "iron gall" inks &#8211; are the first targets for the new technology. Due to its composition, anything written in metallic ink can be seen by an X-ray. Apocalypto will use a combination of micro tomography (industrial CT scanning) and advanced software-based visualization techniques to build a 3D map of the contents of these documents, revealing the hidden or overwritten layers underneath for the first time in centuries. <P> The Apocalypto team says they don't know what they might find -- if anything at all. "It's fairly safe to say that we're not likely to be seeing any lost works of Aristotle," Graham Davis, reader in 3D X-ray imaging at Queen Mary University and lead for the Apocalypto program, told <i>Information Week</i>. <P> "The iron content in the ink gives it its good X-ray contrast," Davis continued, "but this ink also can cause degradation of the parchment and may contribute to the reasons why a particular scroll cannot be opened." <P> If researchers do find information that's been lost for centuries, it'll because of this imaging technology. The special feature of the scanner, Davis explained, is its use of time-delay integration in the X-ray CCD camera. The camera is moved across the X-ray shadow while being simultaneously read out. The read-out speed and camera motion speed are precisely synchronized to produce a continuous high-quality image; as many as several thousand such images may be needed to reconstruct the full 3-D volume image of the target scroll. <P> But that image needs to be cleaned up, including removal of "noise" (data that's neither ink nor parchment) and the data fully projected and rendered. The process also involves the use of specially designed surface mesh construction and correction algorithms, Davis said. <P> "This is a milestone in historical information recovery," said Tim Wess, a colleague of Davis' at Cardiff. "The conservation community is rightly very protective of old documents and isn't prepared to risk damaging them by opening them. Our breakthrough means they won't have to. Across the world, literally thousands of previously unusable documents up to around a thousand years old could now become available for historical research. It really will be possible to read the unreadable." <P> The Apocalypto project is backed by the British government's <a href="http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/Pages/default.aspx ">EPSRC</a> R&D arm.2013-05-16T14:22:00ZEuropean hardware maker unveils two new devices to support companies' need for powerful, multimedia-capable terminals.http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/desktop/igel-fattens-thin-client-product-line/240155077?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbIn what may strike some as a "back to the future" moment, European thin-client maker <a href="https://www.igel.com/uk/">IGEL</a> will launch a beefed up version of its terminals, in response to what it claims is growing demand within enterprises for more powerful devices to support multimedia applications. <P> Which would seem to make them, well, PCs again, surely? IGEL markets the Universal Desktop (UD) range of thin clients, based on Linux and Microsoft Windows, which let customers access a broad spectrum of server-based infrastructures and applications. It announced on Thursday two new devices: the UD5 and the UD3. The UD5 is based on the Sandy Bridge chipset from Intel, with an Intel Celeron 847 dual-core CPU with 1 GB of main memory (DDR3 RAM) and up to 2 GB of flash-based memory (in the form of a SATA solid state disk). The UD3 is based on a VIA Eden X2 dual core processor with the VIA VX900 chipset and offers users 2 GB of DDR3 RAM and up to 4 GB of flash storage in the form of a SATA SSD. <P> "Two years ago, when people started doing VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure), it was all very entry-level in terms of what customers wanted from their thin clients," the firm's U.K. and Irish managing director, Simon Richards, told <em>InformationWeek</em>. <P> Now, he said, companies want to offer much more complex multimedia apps to their staffs -- which, he said, is easier to do technically by ramping up the display device than by passing it down the network via a "thin pipe." This trend, he said, is forcing thin-client hardware suppliers like IGEL to make their offerings more and more powerful, not just in CPU capacity but also in terms of caching and management. <P> <strong>[ Considering swapping your PC for a tablets? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/10-ways-microsoft-could-improve-surface/240154051?itc=edit_in_body_cross">10 Ways Microsoft Could Improve Surface Tablets</a>. ]</strong> <P> IGEL said it has on-boarded features to accelerate multimedia playback. Flash animations and other video files can be redirected from the server over to the thin client, which then locally decodes the content and plays it back "smoothly and seamlessly," it said, allowing the UD5 in particular to conserve server resources while also offering users the "best-possible" playback experience. <P> When asked if the simpler thing to do might be to just swap out thin clients for tablets, which seem to offer the ability to support multimedia, Richards replied, "I see a lot of tablets on trains and in offices, yes. But they are replacing laptops, not desktops. There is still very much a role for a thin-client end device in many work contexts that BYOD [bring your own device] won't touch." <P> IGEL, headquartered in Bremen, Germany, is, according to market-watchers IDC, <a href="http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prCZ24027913">number three</a> in the Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) market behind Dell (which bought Wyse) and HP, and fifth globally, with a 3.5% share. The company said that what's missing from that data is its success in what it calls "software thin clients," which turns old PCs into thin clients by removing their OSes and all existing apps. IGEL said it is a major growth area in Europe, specifically for its Universal Desktop Converter product. IDC's market analysis said the EMEA thin-client market grew 9.2% year-on-year to more than 1.7 million units, with the research group predicting a 6.2% growth in 2013. <P> In the U.K., IGEL claims retail group <a href="http://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/">Arcadia</a>, logistics firm <a href="http://www.nipponexpress.co.uk/">Nippon Express</a> and nonprofit <a href="http://www.ageuk.org.uk/">Age UK</a> as customers for the Universal Desktop. <P> IGEL also announced Thursday it has extended an existing Germany and Nordics region distribution agreement into the U.K. with its partner <a href="http://www.nipponexpress.co.uk/">Arrow Electronics</a>.2013-05-15T12:15:00ZApptio pushes into Europe with software that helps CIOs manage IT operations and monitor costs of IT services, backed by a $45m round of venture funding.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/roi/apptio-wants-to-be-workday-of-it/240154941?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbApptio, the firm that says it wants to be the "Workday for technology business management," has just secured extra investment to help it get it there. <P> <a href="http://www.apptio.com/">Apptio</a> offers cloud-based software it claims helps CIOs better understand the costs of the service they are delivering to their organizations (hence the "technology business management" phrase). <P> "We want to be the business application to help the CIO run their operations as efficiently as they can," Apptio CEO Sunny Gupta told <em>InformationWeek</em> during a visit to Europe to start building his firm's momentum in what he says is a key geography for the company going forward. <P> Apptio, formed nearly six years ago, named as its most prominent European customers the U.K. arm of JP Morgan Chase, British bank The Royal Bank of Scotland and another financial services firm, Switzerland's Swiss Re. The company said it's made sales to 29 Fortune 100 companies in the past three years, and in the U.S. lists Boeing, Facebook, Coca-Cola, Safeway, Target and Xerox as clients. <P> <strong>[ There's a new world order coming -- are you ready? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/when-it-doesnt-choose-applications/240154674?itc=edit_in_body_cross">When IT Doesn't Choose Applications</a>. ]</strong> <P> Gupta is in London to promote that Apptio has just secured a new hit of investment capital in a $45 million Series E funding round -- an injection that brings the total amount raised by the company to $136 million. The firm said plans for the new capital include further investment in its eponymous core technology platform and expansion of its international presence. Specifically, that means a three-phase opening of offices in the German speaking (e.g., Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Nordic markets in Europe, followed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benelux">Benelux</a>, France and Asia, Gupta said. (The company has had a U.K. office for some time.) <P> Investors and customers are buying into Gupta's proposition that there's a key business system for every member of the C-suite except one: the chief information officer. So the head of HR can use Workday; the CFO has Hyperion or Oracle; the head of manufacturing has SAP; and the sales manager can use Salesforce.com. But there's no equivalent for the CIO to track the performance of tech in the organization. <P> Until, you guessed it: Apptio. For Gupta, "Every CIO, large or small, needs a business management system to understand the cost and communicate the value of IT, along with industry benchmarks to measure themselves against. So we help CIOs run their 'business,' IT, by means of gathering the cost and contribution of IT so as to better manage it, producing an accurate 'bill' of what IT costs the organization that can be reviewed on a regular basis." Up until now, he claimed, such analysis could only really be garnered via "Excel, expensive consultants or home-grown business intelligence." <P> Benchmarking is an important word in this definition. CIOs have been measuring their IT costs against their peers via services from firms like the <a href="http://www.thehackettgroup.com/">Hackett Group</a> or <a href="http://www.executiveboard.com/">CEB</a> for years. Gupta counters that what he is offering isn't straight benchmarking, but a "wider" process. "Benchmarking is part of what we do, yes. But what that process historically means is measuring your cost structure against other businesses more or less your size or in the same market. That's useful, but as we move to a more service-delivery paradigm, it's becoming more useful to help you baseline your own cost." <P> As examples of what customers are using such baselines for, Gupta said they are using data to ask questions like why $40 million SAP investments are actually showing only half of licenses ever being used, or to power highly granular drill-downs into tracking changing costs of storage and other IT service features, or allowing CIOs to demonstrate what internal storage is costing versus the same functionality from Amazon Web Services, and so on. <P> Analysts seem to think that there might be something here. Forrester Research, for example, in its "Market Overview: IT Financial Management Software" report thinks this new category of technology business management could be an <a href=" http://www.apptio.com/news/apptio-exceeds-3b-%E2%80%9Cit-spend-under-management%E2%80%9D-milestone#.UZNrOlT5rzw">$800 million software market</a> by the end of 2013, spurred by "business users demanding greater IT cost transparency and financial analysis in order to understand the true cost of IT ... critical in enabling them to intelligently manage demand for IT services and participate in cost management decisions." <P> Apptio also announced it has formed a European arm of the CIO Technology Business Management discussion and best practice sharing forum it supports.2013-05-14T12:30:00ZBig Lottery Fund plans to make some &#163;15 million ($23 million) available to increase tech literacy of U.K. citizens.http://www.informationweek.com/education/leadership/lottery-fund-to-help-bridge-uk-digital-d/240154847?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smb<a href="http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/en-gb">The Big Lottery</a>, a U.K.-based organization that distributes lottery money to good causes, plans to allocate &#163;15 million ($23 million) to help bridge some of the U.K.'s digital divide. <P> According to the organization, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20757480">some 7.4 million Brits</a> have never touched a computer, and an estimated 16 million don't have the basic skills to fully benefit from the Internet. <P> "The U.K. is often considered a nation of early adopters, with the growing use of smart phones, mobile Internet and social media," reads a statement from the group's website. "However, there is growing evidence illustrating the size and impact of a 'digital divide' between those who use computers and the Internet and those that do not." According to the organization, 35% of so-called 'NEETS' (young people not in education, employment or training) rarely look for jobs online, while as many as 17% say they don't apply for jobs that need basic computer skills. <P> "There are so many ways <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UNHrtN-vFKk">making full use of digital technology</a> can make real differences to communities and people in need," said Big Lottery Fund chief executive Peter Wanless. <P> <strong>[ Are apprenticeships the answer to bridging the IT talent gap? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/global-cio/training/uk-eyes-apprenticeships-to-grow-it-talen/240154175?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K. Eyes Apprenticeships To Grow IT Talent</a>. ]</strong> <P> For the initiative, dubbed "Digital Skills," Wanless and his team are looking for U.K.-wide projects that can boost the percentage of the British population able to use computers and the Internet safely and confidently, offer ideas on how to support those most in need and significantly advance the digital capability of volunteer and community groups to improve their services. "The outcomes we are setting for this program are very challenging," Wanless acknowledged. "Applicants will need to achieve reach across UK and will be tackling a very challenging social issue." <P> Digital Skills is not the first project to look for innovative ways to bridge the U.K. digital divide. Most of the momentum so far has come from "digital champion" <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/government/leadership/e-commerce-pioneer-martha-lane-fox-becom/240149582">Martha Lane Fox's</a> <a href="http://www.go-on.co.uk/"> Go ON U.K.</a> campaign. According to Go ON U.K., 4.5 million British workers lack basic online skills, and only 14% of British SMBs sell products and services online. The group also claims that <a href="http://www.go-on.co.uk/challenge/who-were-helping">as much as 6 to 10%</a> of the population -- or a possible 3.5 million Brits -- actively resist IT at all. <P> The application process for the Big Lottery Fund's Digital Skills program will begin this fall and will remain open for about a month. <P> <i>Urban transformation requires IT innovation. Here's how five U.S. cities are forging ahead. Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/042213gov?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Future Cities</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: Video surveillance provided valuable clues to the Boston Marathon bombings, serving as a lesson to other cities. (Free registration required.)</i>2013-05-14T09:27:00ZU.K.'s Co-operative Bank scrapped a &#163;250 million new banking platform to use a partner's system instead. But that plan didn't work out.http://www.informationweek.com/software/enterprise-applications/troubled-uk-bank-seeks-new-it-strategy/240154834?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smb<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/smb/hardware-software/8-useful-free-apps-for-windows-8/240154590"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/992/Intro_01_tn.jpg" alt="8 Free, Must-Have Windows 8 Apps" title="8 Free, Must-Have Windows 8 Apps" class="img175" /></a><br /><div class="storyImageTitle">8 Free, Must-Have Windows 8 Apps</div><span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> The failure of a major IT system is adding to the serious issues affecting the smallest Main Street U.K. bank -- the &#163;30 billion ($46 billion) <a href="http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/"> Co-operative Bank</a>. <P> The brand has been thrown into chaos after the <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/moodys-downgrades-u-k-co-operative-bank-100525029.html">Moody's credit ratings agency downgraded its shares to junk bond status</a> at the end of last week. Meanwhile, a report issued Monday by analysts at one of its rivals, Barclays, has caused even bigger concerns over its immediate future, suggesting it might be facing a capital shortfall of as high as &#163;1.8 billion ($2.8 billion). The bank also <a href="http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/Press/Press-releases/Headline-news/2012-annual-results/">reported losses of &#163;599 million</a> ($916 million) in March for its last full year. <P> Compounding its woes is work that the bank now faces in fixing its IT strategy. In March, when it released those surprisingly bad numbers, it admitted it had to write off &#163;150 million ($229 million) of a planned &#163;250 million ($382 million) new banking platform, which had to be junked. In its results, <a href="http://www.co-operative.coop/Corporate/PDFs/Annual-Report/2012/TCG_Annual-Report-2012_Financials.pdf ">the bank said</a> it is also having to account for an investment of &#163;45 million ($69 million) relating to the Finacle computer software implementation project, which was commissioned and now has to be amortized over a period of 10 years. It also has to carry a further &#163;18 million ($28 million) of assets relating to this project "held within property, plant and equipment as computer equipment and assets in course of construction." <P> <strong>[ Perhaps the bank needs to rethink its innovation plans. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/5-contrarian-tips-on-innovation/240154681">5 Contrarian Tips On Innovation</a>. ]</strong> <P> The Finacle program was supposed to process transactions more quickly for Co Op's 6.5 million customers. Work on the suite began a number of years ago, before Co Op purchased a smaller financial services company, the Britannia Building Society, in 2009. But management had stalled work on the system, intending to instead move onto software from yet another acquisition -- some 600-plus branches from Lloyds, one of the banks that, unlike Co Op, had to be bailed out by the British government at the end of 2008. <P> As part of the deal for the European Union back that state aid, Lloyds agreed to shed some assets. That resulted in Co Op's planned &#163;750 million ($1.1 billion) acquisition of the branches. In addition, <a href="http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/Press/Press-releases/Headline-news/Bank/">Co-op and Lloyds planned to lease</a>, under a managed service agreement, the proven Lloyds IT platform, which would be run for the planned enlarged Co-operative Banking Group "under commercial market terms." <P> Unfortunately for the Co Op, <a href="http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/Press/Press-releases/Headline-news/The-Co-operative-Group-Announcement-re-Lloyds-Bank-Branch-Assets/">that deal collapsed last month</a>, leaving Co Op to somehow find a new banking system. It clearly doesn't want to start from scratch and build another computer platform, especially when the bank also has to plug a gigantic fiscal hole. <P> So serious are the Co Op's issues that it looks increasingly likely it may have to be bailed out by the taxpayer. However, after Moody downgraded the bank by six notches, the Co Op insisted it was in good shape. "We plan to significantly simplify our business, which will greatly improve our operational effectiveness and also enhance our capital position in the process," <a href="http://www.co-operativebankinggroup.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1357284286482&pagename=Corp/Page/tplCorp&currart=1368167222885&currmth=05">the bank said in a statement</a>. <P> The bank declined to answer questions on its plans.2013-05-13T14:00:00ZUtilities and firms looking to build new smart communications networks say they need at least another year to prepare.http://www.informationweek.com/software/uk-smart-meter-project-delayed/240154767?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbThe U.K. has pushed back the deadline for its ambitious <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/development/embedded-systems/uk-smart-meter-plan-for-2014-in-disarray/240151551">national "smart meter" program</a>, a plan to replace over 53 million gas and electricity meters with new devices via visits to 30 million British homes and small businesses. <P> Late last week the Department for Energy and Climate Change <a href=" https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/197794/smart_meters_programme.pdf ">announced</a>, "The consistent message [from bidders for smart meter data and communications service provider contracts] was that more time was needed if the mass rollout was to get off to the best possible start. We therefore expect suppliers to be ready to start their full scale roll-out by autumn 2015." <P> According to the timeline <a href=" https://www.gov.uk/government/news/key-milestone-for-smart-meters-rollout">published last December</a>, a mass rollout of smart meters was to start in late 2014 and finish in 2019. That end date is now 2020, according to the revised deadline. <P> The project, which some have estimated may end up costing as much as &#163;11 billion ($17 billion), is intended to deploy enough equipment to support a real-time two-way flow of electricity and information between customers and suppliers. <P> <strong>[ For more on the U.K.'s Smart Meter plan, see <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/development/embedded-systems/uk-smart-meter-plan-for-2014-in-disarray/240151551?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K. Smart Meter Plan For 2014 In Disarray?</a> ]</strong> <P> According to the government, the new system should better inform the level of supply needed to meet demand in a near-instantaneous fashion. The program is being held as a key deliverable in the state's commitment to meet its carbon emission targets. <P> London-based analyst group Ovum calls the plan's delay "pragmatic," describing it as the best way to avoid the real possibility that Britain could have commissioned a communications network for over 50 million meters that had not been properly tested. Ovum's principal energy and sustainability technology analyst Stuart Ravens explained, "Giving retailers responsibility for the smart meter rollout created some unique issues. In all other deployments worldwide, metering is the responsibility of network operators, not retailers, so each network operator is responsible for discrete geographic areas and able to select the right communications technology for its area. In practice, this is usually a hybrid of different communications." <P> In Britain's case, Ravens added, retailers have no geographic constraints, nor have they historically shown much interest in trialing and testing a variety of communications technologies. With very few exceptions, the smart meters deployed in Britain so far have relied on cellular-based communications, with "mixed results." <P> Part of the Department's tendering process was to request proof that each communications technology would work in the British deployment. However, the Department failed to commission any trials, which could have resulted in a national smart meter communications network that had not been properly tested prior to being initiated. <P> "The [Department's] decision to delay the tendering process by at least a year to perform more tests is welcome," Ravens said, "but it does beg the question: why did it take the [government] so long to recognize its previous folly?" <P> For its part, the government states that it will provide an "updated high level view of the smart meters delivery plan" later in 2013. <P> <i>Urban transformation requires IT innovation. Here's how five U.S. cities are forging ahead. Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/042213gov?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Future Cities</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: Video surveillance provided valuable clues to the Boston Marathon bombings, serving as a lesson to other cities. (Free registration required.)</i>2013-05-13T13:15:00ZGovernment's plan to boost cell and mobile broadband coverage in "not spots" finally in motion after two-year delay.http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/uk-appoints-builder-of-rural-mobile-boos/240154748?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smb<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/10-best-and-worst-cellphones-of-all-time/240152362"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/975/Best-Worst-Cellphones-screen-1_tn.png" alt="Best And Worst Cellphones Of All Time" title="Best And Worst Cellphones Of All Time" class="img175" /></a><br /><div class="storyImageTitle">10 Best And Worst Cellphones Of All Time</div><span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for slideshow)</span></div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->The British dream of eradicating <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/89372/2013_02_20_-_MIP_Maps_vFinal.pdf">"not spots"</a> -- intermittent cell and mobile broadband coverage in rural areas -- has edged a bit closer to reality with a &#163;150 million ($230 million) deal between the government and telco equipment supplier Arqiva. <P> In January 2012, the government unveiled its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/making-it-easier-for-the-communications-and-telecoms-industries-to-grow-while-protecting-the-interests-of-citizens/supporting-pages/improving-mobile-coverage">mobile infrastructure project (MIP)</a>, a program to plug gaps in mobile service in areas where operators haven't seen a business reason for installing infrastructure. The government had found funding for the project in October 2011. <P> The government Monday said it now has tapped Arqiva to deliver the program, which will cover at least 60,000 outlying sites and sections of road. <a href="http://www.arqiva.com/corporate/press/archive/2013/2013-5-13%20-%20Better%20mobile%20connection%20coming%20to%20rural%20Britain.pdf">Arqiva will be responsible for a full-scale mobile network rollout</a> that encompasses network planning and site acquisition, as well as the deployment of site infrastructure and installation of all relevant signal-boosting equipment. <P> By improving mobile phone coverage, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mobile-coverage-in-rural-areas-set-to-improve?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=press-release-mobile-coverage-in-rural-areas-set-to-improve">MIP will help "connect rural communities,</a> create local jobs and contribute to economic growth," the government said in a statement. All four British mobile network operators will provide their services from the MIP infrastructure, "maximizing the benefits to all consumers," it said. <P> <strong>[ Can you hack cell coverage? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/wireless/drop-your-cell-plan-and-still-use-your-p/240142622?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Drop Your Cell Plan And Still Use Your Phone</a>. ]</strong> <P> The original MIP schedule called for a contract to be signed in the spring of 2012 with a completion date of 2015. The completion date has been revised to 2017, with a 20-year maintenance agreement, Arqiva told <em>InformationWeek</em>. <P> Arqiva's appointment represents "great news for rural communities throughout the U.K." which stand to "benefit enormously" from the attempt to improve mobile phone coverage, said Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, who is responsible for expanding British communications infrastructure, including rural broadband, in a statement. "Good mobile connectivity is becomingly increasingly important and it is crucial that businesses and individuals are not left struggling with poor and intermittent coverage." <P> Nicolas Ott, Arqiva's managing director of government, mobile and enterprise, said in a statement that "MIP perfectly fits within our strategy of creating a range of platforms -- cellular, Wi-Fi and small cells -- that provide mobile connectivity to all and support a thriving digital economy in the U.K." <P> MIP is part of a constellation of on-going projects sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to ramp up British connectivity. Others include the &#163;530 million ($813 million) <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/transforming-uk-broadband ">rural broadband project</a> and a &#163;150 million ($230 million) <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/transforming-uk-broadband/supporting-pages/investing-in-super-connected-cities">"super-connected" cities</a> program. <P> Arquiva provides a significant chunk of the infrastructure behind British TV, radio, satellite and wireless communications in the U.K., with customers including the BBC, ITV, satellite giant BSkyB and the U.K.'s four mobile network operators, plus some of its emergency services. <P> Arquiva and the government are expected to jointly announce this summer which parts of the country will be receiving the improved mobile coverage.2013-05-13T09:08:00ZGerry Pennell goes back to his alma mater to help deliver the infrastructure component of its ambitious 'Manchester 2020' planhttp://www.informationweek.com/education/leadership/olympics-cio-heads-up-to-manchester-univ/240154644?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smb<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/inside-eight-game-changing-moocs/240152508"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/976/MOOC_canvas_01_tn.jpg" alt=" 8 MOOCs Transforming Education" title="8 MOOCs Transforming Education" class="img175" /></a><br /><div class="storyImageTitle">8 MOOCs Transforming Education</div><span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->The man in charge of IT for the London 2012 Olympics has gone back to his alma mater as its new chief information officer. Gerry Pennell will become director of IT at the <a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/">University of Manchester</a> at the end of July, <a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=9999">according to the university</a>. <P> One of Pennell's biggest tasks in his new job will be to ensure that technology at the university, one of Britain's biggest with 40,000 students, works to support the delivery of the <a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/vision/">Manchester 2020 Vision</a>, a plan to make the institution one of the world's top 25 research universities by 2020. <P> That vision has a number of specific IT goals, including providing a high-quality study environment and "a responsive, flexible, robust and secure infrastructure for all services, taking advantage of public and private cloud solutions." <P> <strong>[ How one university got the jump on the digital revolution. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/instructional-it/indiana-university-models-e-textbook-suc/240149826?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Indiana University Models E-Textbook Success</a>. ]</strong> <P> The plan also tasks Pennell and his team to support academic research through services relating to trends in scholarly publishing, bibliometrics and the storage, management and preservation of research outputs. They will be required to provide a sustained research data management infrastructure supporting the whole data life cycle according to researchers' needs as part of a wider strategy for e-infrastructure. <P> Sounds challenging, but Pennell has extensive experience in establishing and leading large IT organizations, plus he has a strong association with Manchester, where he graduated in mathematics. He was CIO of the Co-operative Group, also headquartered in Manchester, and director of technology for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002. He also was a management consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers. <P> Pennell most recently was chief information officer at the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, or <a href="http://www.london2012.com/about-us/the-people-delivering-the-games/locog/">LOCOG</a>, which delivered the technology underpinning the last Olympics. On that project, his IT staff peaked at 6,000 people and involved 110,000 pieces of equipment, including 3,500 miles of cabling, 900 servers, 1,000 network and security devices, and 9,500 PCs. <P> Pennell's new employer, The University of Manchester, has existed in its current form only since 2004, when two much older institutions with roots back as far as 1824 merged to create it. The university's lineage includes 25 Nobel Laureates among past and present students and staff, the third-highest number of any single university in the U.K. It currently has four Nobel laureates on staff, more than any other British university. <P> Pennell's predecessor, <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulharness">Paul Harness</a>, left in February to become director of information systems services at neighboring Lancaster University.2013-05-13T09:06:00ZMultichannel expert John O'Donovan joins <i>The Financial Times</i> as new CTO, will help develop mobile strategy among other challenges.http://www.informationweek.com/software/information-management/financial-times-taps-former-bbc-tech-hea/240154658?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbLeading British business daily <a href="http://www.ft.com/home/uk">The Financial Times</a> has tapped British IT leader <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-o-donovan/0/170/200">John O'Donovan</a> as its new chief technology officer. Reporting to CIO Christina Scott, O'Donovan will help further develop the paper's technology strategy. <P> O'Donovan has extensive experience with multi-channel delivery, having spearheaded development of the BBC's P2P-based VOD (video on demand) and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/">iPlayer content library </a> while serving as chief architect and head of interactive technology at the broadcaster's News, Sport and Weather division from 1999 to 2011. He also contributed to the BBC's successful coverage of the London 2012 Olympics, helping lead the development of a set of widely used APIs for the Olympics data feed. O'Donovan has also held roles at BBC rival BSkyB. <P> In his new role, O'Donovan will lead <i>The Financial Times</i>'s technology strategy across development and operations teams. Scott noted, "[O'Donovan] will play an important role in developing the FT's technology strategy, including how we improve our use of data and continue to enhance our content management solutions," adding that O'Donovan has a strong track record of successfully delivering high-profile products and services for various media organizations. <P> <strong>[ Which nations lead the world in social media use? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/news/social_networking_consumer/britains-love-affair-with-social-media-d/240154511?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Britain's Love Affair With Social Media Deepens</a>. ]</strong> <P> O'Donovan comes from international press service the Press Association, where he currently serves as director of architecture and development. (Interestingly, the <i>FT</i>'s previous CTO, Michael Fleshman, took the reverse path, joining the BBC Worldwide arm as senior VP for Consumer Digital Technology.) <P> In a <a href=http://aboutus.ft.com/2013/05/09/financial-times-appoints-john-odonovan-chief-technical-officer/>statement reporting his appointment</a>, global publishing and content group Pearson, which owns the <i>Financial Times</i>, credited O'Donovan with "delivering influential technical strategies that have become widely adopted, and using semantic technologies and architectural patterns for dealing with complex integration in modern technical environments." <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <!-- GLOBAL CIO GLOBE --> <div style="margin:0; padding:0 0 10px 15px; width:244px; float:right;"> <div style="margin:0; border-top:1px solid black; border-bottom:1px solid black; padding:6px;"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/1217/217ID_GlobalCIO_75.jpg" width="75" height="75" border="0" align="right" alt="Global CIO" style="margin:0 0 6px 6px;"></a> <div style="margin:0 0 6px 0; font-size:1.3em; font-weight:bold; color:#113e53;">Global CIOs: A Site Just For You</div> <span style="font-size:.9em; font-weight:bold;">Visit <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/">InformationWeek's Global CIO</a> -- our online community and information resource for CIOs operating in the global economy.</span> </div> </div> <!-- /GLOBAL CIO GLOBE --> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P> O'Donovan can expect to roll his sleeves up very quickly as the "pink paper" ramps up its multimedia activities. Plans likely include developing its mobile strategy; the <i>FT</i> is one of the small but closely watched band of media titles that insist on a paywall (in its case, $1.50 a day). In April, the <i>FT</i> launched a refreshed Web version focused heavily on the Apple iPad, with an Android version promised in the coming months. <P> The paper has attracted attention for refusing to develop a native iOS app, arguing that the format would not merit enough value. It cites Apple's 30% cut of revenues for in-app purchases and its view that Apple doesn't share enough data with customers. <P> In its <a href="http://www.pearson.com/news/2013/february/pearson-2012-results.html">2012 results</a>, Pearson revealed that as of last July, <i>The Financial Times</i> has more digital subscribers than print. <P> <i>Our 2013 Unified Communications Survey shows projects stalled. Here's why, and how to whip up more enthusiasm. Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/032813s?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">UC Doldrums</a> special issue of InformationWeek: The WebRTC open source project promises to make real-time communications easier, but it faces an uncertain future. (Free registration required.)</i>2013-05-10T14:53:00ZAmbitious fiber broadband investments appear to be paying off, as 51% of British broadband users are now BT customers.http://www.informationweek.com/telecom/business/bt-increases-profits-broadband-market-sh/240154654?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbBT, Britain's biggest telco, is upping the ante in its battle for cyberspace and broadcast market share against rivals BSkyB and <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/business/malone-makes-uk-bid-for-virgin-territory/240147915">Liberty Media's Virgin</a>. <P> The company on Friday <a href="http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/Showarticle.cfm?ArticleID=AF4C5EBD-DDA1-4001-B22A-1DC5179507ED">reported better-than-expected profits</a> (compared to City of London projections) for the fiscal year ended March 31. In pounds and pence terms, that's an adjusted EBITDA profit up 2%, to &#163;6.2 billion ($9.5 billion) for the full four quarters, with a 21% jump, to &#163;833 million ($1.3 billion) in the first three months of 2013. <P> But while improved, the top-line numbers have not fully shaken off five years of underperformance by the formerly state-owned company. The firm has not managed to get revenue growing again, with this fiscal year coming in down 5%, at &#163;18.3 billion ($28.1 billion). <P> The firm says it also has driven up its fiber broadband customer base -- in both business and consumer markets -- to the 1.3 million mark. BT says the total number of U.K. broadband connections (including DSL and fiber) on its network is now 17.6 million, delivered through more than 150 service providers. In terms of market share, after adding 424,000 retail broadband customers in the year (increasing its customer base 7%, to about 6.7 million), it now has the majority share at 51% of all British domestic connections. <P> <strong>[ "Copper Luddites" are trying to hold back progress, claimed BT chief. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/business/bt-ceo-slams-uk-fiber-monopoly-critics/240152460?itc=edit_in_body_cross">BT CEO Slams U.K. Fiber 'Monopoly' Critics</a>. ]</strong> <P> BT also announced plans to use its burgeoning video on demand (VOD) business, BT Vision, as the platform to turn itself into a full competitor with Rupert Murdoch's Sky TV via a &#163;1 billion ($1.5 billion) investment in securing the rights to stream Premier League soccer for the first time. <P> That's a move also seen as building demand for the company's fiber network, which it built out the last few years, despite the post-2008 U.K. economic slowdown. During the results call, the company claimed its high-speed fiber offering is now available to more than half of British homes and businesses, with <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/infrastructure/ethernet/uk-bt-push-broadband-to-rural-scotland/240151847">rollout accelerating in rural areas</a>. <P> For BT CEO Ian Livingston, that fiber groundwork shows how "in an environment where it is easier to focus only on the short-term," his company is "investing in our future." <P> Livingston also said that the firm has created around 3,000 new jobs in the U.K. during the last year to support its investment plans, and plans to will use its Wi-Fi capabilities and recent <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/uk-4g-auction-nets-underwhelming-234-sal/240148890">LTE/4G spectrum bandwidth</a> purchase to "make sure its customers will be the best connected." BT, for the first time, revealed what it spent on that purchase: &#163;202 million ($311 million), which it says will provide its business and consumer customers with an enhanced range of mobile broadband services. <P> Beyond communications infrastructure and services, the firm is also a contender in the IT consulting and system integration market with its BT Global Services arm. That also seems to be on the way back to health, with an order intake of &#163;2 billion ($3.1 billion), the company said. <P> <i>Find out six questions you must ask when deciding whether to move your telephony system to a hosted VoIP provider, including questions about reliability, branch survivability, E911 capability and whether you&#8217;re looking for additional collaboration services. Get the <a href="http://www.networkcomputing.com/tech-center/nextgennetwork/download?id=189801425&cat=whitepaper&popup=true&download=true?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe">Is Hosted VoIP Right For You?</a> report today. (Free registration required.)</i>2013-05-10T11:05:00ZU.K. government provides grants to University of Oxford and Royal Holloway, University of London to fund doctoral programs in cyber security.http://www.informationweek.com/security/government/british-universities-given-funds-for-cyb/240154611?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbThe U.K. government plans to offer a grant of &#163;7.5 million ($11.5 million) to two British universities in order to train a new cohort of cyber security Ph.Ds. <P> The <a href=" http://www.rhul.ac.uk/isg/aboutus/home.aspx">Royal Holloway college</a> of the University of London and the <a href="https://www2.cybersecurity.ox.ac.uk/home-page/">University of Oxford</a> -- which both already enjoy international reputations as centers of security research -- have been asked to recruit extra postgraduates to develop new ways of resisting cyber attacks. <P> Both institutions plan to set up new centers for doctoral training, or CDTs, in cyber security problems. At Oxford, the CDT will focus on <a href=<"https://www2.cybersecurity.ox.ac.uk/cdt/cdt-research-themes/">big data-related security problems</a>, exploring the best way to link physical and information security. Meanwhile, the Royal Holloway center will research cryptographic systems and protocols, telecommunication networks and critical infrastructure, and organizational processes and socio-technical systems. <P> <strong>[ Are apprenticeships the solution to addressing the IT talent gap? Read <a href="ww.informationweek.com/global-cio/training/uk-eyes-apprenticeships-to-grow-it-talen/240154175?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K. Eyes Apprenticeships To Grow IT Talent</a>. ]</strong> <P> At Holloway, 10 Ph.D. scholarships over three annual intakes for <a href="http://www.rhul.ac.uk/isg/cybersecuritycdt/home.aspx">a four-year program</a> will be funded. Students will attend a year of courses in advance of a three-year research program and will be placed during their study at firms including BM, McAfee and Thales. The initiative is expected to supply 66 highly trained doctorate-level experts by 2020. <P> "We are looking forward to taking on the great responsibility of delivering graduates who will directly benefit the country," said Royal Holloway information security group director and professor Keith Martin. <P> The investment is another step in the U.K.'s attempts to <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/security/government/british-government-bolsters-anti-cybercr/240151170">improve its cyber security efforts</a>. The new research places are in addition to 30 previously announced doctorates being underwritten by GCHQ, the country's official center for monitoring signals, which are part of the government's &#163;650 million ($1 billion) National Cyber Security Program. For the Oxford and Royal Holloway investments, cash is coming in the form of a &#163;5 million ($7.7 million) donation from the government Ministry for Business, Innovation and Skills, along with &#163;2.5 million ($3.8 million) from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. <P> "These new centers will produce a new generation of cyber security specialists, able to use their skills and research expertise to improve cyber security and drive growth," said Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts. <P> The news was generally welcomed by the British IT security industry, although with some caveats. John Yeo, EMEA director at Trustwave, which supplies on-demand and subscription-based information security and PCI DSS compliance management solutions, noted, "It would be prudent to ensure that for within this type of very focused and specialized academic course, a sufficient level of practical, hands-on and industry experience is built in -- primarily to ensure students maximize their employability and value to hiring organizations upon completing their course." <P> <i>Antivirus systems alone can't fight a growing category of malware whose strength lies in the fact that we have never seen it before. The <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/AdvancedThreats/util/9727/download.html?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe">How To Detect Zero-Day Malware And Limit Its Impact</a> report examines the ways in which zero-day malware is being developed and spread, and the strategies and products enterprises can leverage to battle it. (Free registration required.)</i>2013-05-09T13:20:00ZFormer British government IT and EMC U.K. executive Bill McCluggage will lead national IT strategy for Ireland.http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/ireland-names-first-national-cio/240154544?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbEighteen months after quitting his high-profile post in British central government IT to take an executive role with EMC U.K., Bill McCluggage has decided to return to the public sector -- only this time in Dublin, not London. <P> The industry veteran has just been announced as the Irish Republic's first-ever national CIO, ending his tenure as the storage giant's U.K. and Irish chief technologist, based in Northern Ireland. He resigned from his position as Britain's deputy governmental CIO in November 2011. <P> In this new role, he will report to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Howlin">Brendan Howlin</a>, the <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Dail">Dail's</a> minister for public expenditure and reform, and is tasked with leading the state's CIO Council, as well as helping drive further implementation of e-government and cloud computing strategies. <P> "Bill will provide guidance and leadership at the executive level across the entire IT spectrum, and will take responsibility for the development of the ICT [information and communications technology] strategy for government and the wider public service," said Howlin. Another senior Irish politician, secretary general Robert Watt, said McCluggage's entry will "positively influence the direction of technology enabled change across the public service in Ireland and play a key role in the delivery of the government's strategic change objectives." <P> <strong>[ See how the U.K. government is trying to learn from industry. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/information-management/tech-execs-help-uk-raise-its-procuremen/240153903?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Tech Execs Help U.K. Raise Its Procurement Game</a>. ]</strong> <P> For his part, McCluggage looks forward to the opportunity to "make a tangible difference to the delivery of public services across Ireland through effective use of technology, e-government and cloud computing." <P> McCluggage has strong links to the Province of Northern Ireland, for example working as Northern Irish CIO and senior information risk owner. Apparently, he was tempted to cross the border and go south by too good an opportunity to miss; this is the first time Ireland has had such a position. <P> U.K. commentators are speculating that it may mark a period of renewed ICT investment by the former "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Tiger ">Celtic Tiger</a>," as it struggles to shake off the remnants of the banking crisis. <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <!-- GLOBAL CIO GLOBE --> <div style="margin:0; padding:0 0 10px 15px; width:244px; float:right;"> <div style="margin:0; border-top:1px solid black; border-bottom:1px solid black; padding:6px;"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/1217/217ID_GlobalCIO_75.jpg" width="75" height="75" border="0" align="right" alt="Global CIO" style="margin:0 0 6px 6px;"></a> <div style="margin:0 0 6px 0; font-size:1.3em; font-weight:bold; color:#113e53;">Global CIOs: A Site Just For You</div> <span style="font-size:.9em; font-weight:bold;">Visit <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/">InformationWeek's Global CIO</a> -- our online community and information resource for CIOs operating in the global economy.</span> </div> </div> <!-- /GLOBAL CIO GLOBE --> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P> Coincidentally, another former British ICT leader, and one-time overall CIO, John Suffolk has also popped up again this week. Suffolk left his position with the British government in 2011, a few months before McCluggage, and was appointed global head of cybersecurity for Chinese IT company <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/management/huawei-zte-4-security-fears/240009248">Huawei</a>. <P> Suffolk blogged a few days ago to record his <a href="http://johnsuffolk.typepad.com/john-suffolk/2013/05/mr-president-we-spend-more-than-2000-times-per-person-on-defence-than-china-but-we-cannot-defend-our-defence-networks-is-it.html ">skepticism with U.S. security policy</a> by way of a mock letter to U.S. President Obama. He wrote, "Dear Mr. President, we spend more than 2,000 times per person on defense than China but we cannot defend our defense networks." <P> <i>Urban transformation requires IT innovation. Here's how five U.S. cities are forging ahead. Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/042213gov?k=axxe&cid=article_ax xt_os">Future Cities</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: Video surveillance provided valuable clues to the Boston Marathon bombings, serving as a lesson to other cities. (Free registration required.)</i>2013-05-09T13:08:00ZBritain is biggest user of social networks in Western Europe, with Facebook the favorite destination, says study, but Nordics lead the world.http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/news/social_networking_consumer/britains-love-affair-with-social-media-d/240154511?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smb<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/facebook-home-invasion/240152345"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/974/facebook_home_001_tn.jpg" alt="Facebook Home Invasion" title="Facebook Home Invasion" class="img175" /></a><br /><div class="storyImageTitle">Facebook Home Invasion</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for slideshow)</span> </div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->The U.K. is the most avid user of social networks among the biggest Western European economies, said e-marketing analysis group <a href="http://www.emarketer.com/">eMarketer</a>. <P> The group says that although growth is plateauing in the "traditionally more advanced digital countries" of the U.S., Canada, Japan and the U.K., one in two Brits -- 52.6% of the populace by 2014 &#8211; are social network users. The stats are nearly one in four worldwide. By 2014 the global social network community will hit 2 billion, according to the marketing group. <P> eMarketer noted that, "In the U.K., in particular, social networking is well established and wildly popular." That translates to 32.1 million Brits using social networks regularly this year, and 36.7 million doing so by 2017. And where are the British doing all their social networking? One word: Facebook. <P> <strong>[ Would you perform tech support for your Facebook Friends? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/intrusion-prevention/facebook-turns-friends-into-it-support/240154124?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Facebook Turns Friends Into IT Support</a>. ]</strong> <P> Facebook "reigns unchallenged" as the leading social network in the U.K., accounting for more than nine out of 10 social network accounts, putting its U.K. success above the penetration rate for Zuckerberg's offering in other parts of the region, said eMarketer. In the U.K., perhaps due to fewer options than Germany has, "social networking is near synonymous with Facebook usage." <P> The only place in the world with more social network users is the Nordics, where sites like Facebook seem unstoppable. In 2014, 71.8% of the Dutch, 73.0% of Norwegians, 68.25% of Swedes and 63% of Finns will be on Facebook or another social network, said eMarketer. <P> At the other end of the scale? Only 37.8% of the French and 35% of Italians are expected to have social media profiles within the next year. <P> The U.K. won't be the king of social media use for long, though, said eMarketer. It's set to lose its position in Western Europe as the numbers in Germany climb past it this year. <P> The <a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article/UK-Remains-Top-Facebook-Market-Western-Europe/1009876">research's conclusions</a> are based on eMarketer's analysis of survey and traffic data from research firms and regulatory agencies; the growth trajectory of major social network sites; historical trends; Internet and mobile adoption trends; and what it dubs "country-specific demographic and socio-economic factors."2013-05-08T12:20:00ZSurvey shows many British households face unexpectedly high bills from children's unauthorized gaming purchases.http://www.informationweek.com/kids-gaming-adds-up-for-uk-parents/240154461?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbLast summer I downloaded a new iPad game for my 7-year-old daughter on holiday. As she seemed to be enjoying it so much, we allowed her to make 'in-game' purchases of fun things like new items of clothing for the characters. <P> The good feelings turned a bit sour when the iTunes bill for those few days of gaming came in: more than &#163;100 ($155). <P> Seems our family's experience isn't unique. A rather disturbing new survey from the British arm of Microsoft suggests parents whose youngsters make purchases on iTunes without permission can end up with average monthly bills as high as &#163;34.18 ($53.00). And according to Microsoft, the total monthly cost of unauthorized apps and in-app purchases is more like &#163;30.9 million ($48 million). <P> What's going on here? Many children's Web or tablet/smartphone app-based games are free or cost as little as &#163;0.69 ($1.07). Most then offer players the opportunity to upgrade their free accounts through paid membership, providing access to parts of the game not available to non-paying players. Other games encourage in-game purchases to speed up gameplay or to access extra features. <P> <strong>[ Are apprenticeships the solution to the IT talent gap? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/training/uk-eyes-apprenticeships-to-grow-it-talen/240154175?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K. Eyes Apprenticeships To Grow IT Talent</a>. ]</strong> <P> The phenomenon has been gaining more and more attention in the U.K. In <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2013/mar/13/stop-children-spending-money-in-ipad-games"> one recent high-profile case</a>, a child managed to run up a &#163;980 ($1,521) bill on one such iPad game. The government has since tasked the Office of Fair Trading to investigate whether game developers are breaking any rules by using these <a href="http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/consumer-enforcement/consumer-enforcement-current/childrens-online-games/#.UYpS2eBZGZk"> purchase practices</a>. <P> According to Microsoft, 28% -- nearly one in three -- of 2,000 Brit parents surveyed reported that their kids had made app and in-app purchases without their permission. Of that 28%, a full 83% said they'd suffered from "bill shock" as a result, noticing a big increase in their monthly payments due to their children's gaming behavior. <P> Clearly kids find these online transactions all too easy. In fact, 17% of respondents admitted they share their smartphone and tablet passwords with their children, and 23.5% don't use passwords at all. Perhaps not surprisingly, 77% think families need more help from technology companies to manage their children's activities with apps. <P> "It's important parents can trust in the technology they use and feel as safe as possible when handing over their smartphone and tablet devices to their children," said Brett Siddons, Microsoft head of consumer marketing for Windows Phone UK. <P> As for me, I changed my password. I still let my daughter make in-game purchases -- but only with permission, and certainly not every time she plays. Will it take a change in the law to address the problem on a national scale? <P> <i>Think backups are boring? Not according to our more than 500 respondents. Most, 60%, use two, three or even more different backup applications, and the percentage encrypting all media has jumped 15 points since 2011. Get the <a href="http://www.networkcomputing.com/next-generation-data-center/util/downl oad?id=189801503&cat=whitepaper?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe">2013 Backup Technologies Survey</a> report today. (Free registration required.)</i>2013-05-08T12:09:00ZGovernment's &#163;21 million low-carbon energy innovation fund could produce power saving technologies for the data center.http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/data-centers/data-centers-may-benefit-as-uk-invests-i/240154411?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbObservers have struggled to find anything useful to the British IT industry out of Wednesday's <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22437884">Queen's Speech</a>, where the government presents (via the mouthpiece of the monarch) its agenda of business for the next 12 months. The BBC's technology editor, Rory Cellan-Jones, jokingly <a href="https://twitter.com/ruskin147/status/332100933951582208 ">commented on Twitter</a>, "'RT @robindbrant: it appears [opposition leader Ed Milliband] and [Prime Minister David Cameron] were discussing iPads as they walked into lords for queens speech.' At last a tech angle!'" <P> Cellan-Jones and others may just have been looking in the wrong part of U.K. government for tech news. The Department of Energy and Climate Change announced Wednesday a new <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/21million-for-carbon-cutting-technologies">&#163;21 million</a> ($33 million) seed fund to help British entrepreneurs bring "new and innovative low-carbon products to market." <P> The prize will be split into a set of competitions and direct subsidy programs. The overriding goal is to spur more innovation in the low-carbon sector and support jobs, create export opportunities and help the U.K. meet its carbon targets. <P> "This new investment will give these organizations the boost they need to drive forward the development of a range of innovative low-carbon designs, helping cut costs and bring new technologies to market in this sector," said the Energy and Climate Change minister, Greg Barker. <P> <strong>[ Get more U.K. government IT news. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/infrastructure/uk-government-mandates-cloud-first-it-pr/240154377?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K. Government Mandates Cloud First IT Procurement</a>. ]</strong> <P> The Energy Entrepreneurs Fund will divide &#163;16 million ($25 million) worth of that &#163;21 million among some 30 projects. The plan is support firms who have come forward with "promising contributions" in energy efficiency technologies such as building control systems, advanced lighting systems and space heating and cooling technologies, alongside power generation and energy storage technologies including fuel cells, biomass boilers and heat pumps. The department says potential products range from new smart energy demand controls and innovative waste management solutions to new approaches to insulation. <P> Sixteen firms have been awarded a share of &#163;2 million ($3.1 million) to help develop new energy storage solutions, which store electricity generated at a time of low demand that can be used a later time when demand is higher. That offers promise for data centers -- but, warned the government, these ideas need more funding to "help drive forward innovation and encourage private sector investment." <P> Rounding out the investment is a &#163;3 million ($4.7 million) boost for entrepreneurs willing to carry out feasibility studies and demonstrate designs for new compact heat stores in the domestic sector. <P> Companies named include University of Warwick spin-off <a href="http://www.anvil-semi.co.uk/"> Anvil Semiconductors</a>, which is looking at alternatives to silicon as the basis for power semiconductors in applications including Smart Grids, and <a href="http://www.photonstarlighting.co.uk/">PhotonStar</a>, a British designer of smart LED lighting solutions. <P> At the policy level, last year <a href="http://www.lowcarboninnovation.co.uk/working_together/technology_focus_areas/heat"</a> the U.K. government identified</a> heat pumps, heat networks and heat storage as three key technologies that could play a key role in the country's possible low-carbon future and potentially slash national energy system costs by anywhere from &#163;14 billion ($22 billion) to &#163;66 billion ($102 billion) by 2050. <P> <i>Our 2013 IT Spending Priorities Survey shows IT pros are playing catch-up after a period of underfunding. Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/050613?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Vicious Circle</a> issue of InformationWeek: Twitter's security boost might be too little, too late. (Free registration required.)</i>2013-05-07T13:20:00ZCabinet Office issues directive to government workers: Prioritize cloud-based IT solutions whenever possible.http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/infrastructure/uk-government-mandates-cloud-first-it-pr/240154377?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smbIn an effort to expedite <a href=" http://www.informationweek.co.uk/government/cloud-saas/uk-government-cloudstore-sales-spike-300/240153313">government cloud (G-Cloud)</a> progress, the U.K. government plans to formally adopt a "cloud-first" procurement policy. And it would like to see the entire British public sector follow suit. <P> In practical terms, that means all of Whitehall (central government) should always prioritize cloud-based IT products and services, according to a mandate from the Cabinet Office, which acts a kind of pan-governmental office of the COO for the British state. <P> Going forward, government departments and agencies should consider and fully evaluate potential cloud-based solutions first. However, they are still free to choose an alternative option if they can demonstrate that it offers better value for money. <P> The push in many ways cements an ongoing set of activities designed to curb growing IT procurement and project costs, especially at the center of the country's public sector. "IT costs are still too high," said cabinet office minister Francis Maude. "One way we can reduce them is to accelerate the adoption of cloud across the public sector to maximize [cloud's] benefits." <P> <strong>[ U.K. government moves toward a single Web address. Read more at <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/whitehall-achieves-important-digital-pre/240154004?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Whitehall Achieves Important Digital Presence Milestone</a>. ]</strong> <P> For Maude and his supporters, the British approach to the G-Cloud is fundamental to both public service and IT reform because it creates a "friction-free commissioning point for government IT services," facilitating the move away from dependence on an "oligopoly" of large suppliers and lock-ins to long contracts. <P> The Cabinet Office says it is also reviewing governance arrangements in central government IT to create more agile structures that support delivery better, including delivery of cloud-based commissioning of commoditized services. <P> The "cloud-first" announcement came on the same day the Office confirmed that the third version of its <a href="http://gcloud.civilservice.gov.uk/cloudstore/">CloudStore</a> IT buying catalog had gone live and that a new iteration of the G-Cloud supplier framework itself is also now online. The framework features more than 700 suppliers &#8211; 80% of which are SMBs -- offering over 5,000 services. More than half of the companies listed are appearing in the framework for the first time. According to G-Cloud program director Denise McDonagh, the framework will only enhance the cost and innovation benefits of a more competitive marketplace. <P> But even with expanded cloud activity and high-level support, the G-Cloud program is in its early days. McDonagh said, "Sales from G-Cloud are rising steadily, with cumulative spend now over &#163;18 million [$28 million] -- two-thirds of it with SMBs. [But] this is still small relative to overall government IT spend, and the transition to widespread purchasing of IT services as a commodity won't happen overnight." <P> Even as McDonagh points to the possibility of CloudStore purchases being as low as 30% of the cost of alternative solutions, she also acknowledges that it's still a long way from being the dominant purchasing model. For example, the state currently spends about <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/apr/25/uk-public-spending-1963">&#163;700 billion ($1.1 trillion) a year </a> -- just over 45% of total GDP -- on everything from pensions to battleships. In 2010, according to the National IT Strategy document, tech spending amounted to a hefty <a href=" http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/317444/ict_strategy4.pdf ">&#163;16 billion ($25 billion)</a>, or 4.6% of that figure. Cloud is just a tiny part of that; the CloudStore opened for business only a year or so ago. <P> Maude and McDonagh hope that the current &#163;18 million cloud spend can grow to a larger proportion of that &#163;16 billion. But it may take a while, even with a cloud-first mandate in place. <P> <i>Urban transformation requires IT innovation. Here's how five U.S. cities are forging ahead. Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/042213gov?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Future Cities</a> issue of InformationWeek Government: Video surveillance provided valuable clues to the Boston Marathon bombings, serving as a lesson to other cities. (Free registration required.)</i>2013-05-07T12:55:00ZiBeacon mobile device accessory clips onto bags and uses audio and lights to notify owners of activity on their cell phones.http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/never-miss-another-mobile-call-promises/240154370?cid=SBX_iwk_related_slideshow_Mobile/Wireless_smb<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/top-ipad-5-rumors/240153565"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/984/iPad5_NextGen_01_tn.jpg" alt="5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes" title="Top iPad 5 Rumors" class="img175" /></a><br /><div class="storyImageTitle">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</div><span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->As smartphones get bigger and run hotter, it's harder to carry them in pants pockets. Unfortunately, that means men who stow their phones in jackets, sports bags or briefcases, as women have long had to do, are beginning to join women in missing important calls, points out Ronaj Pathak. <P> Pathak, CEO and founder of a Buckinghamshire company called iBeacon, thinks he has the solution with a new gadget of the same name. iBeacon is a small device that clips onto your bag and alerts you to incoming calls via audio tones and a red light. About the size of a credit card, the iBeacon connects to phones with a bright red cable. Pathak, a former Asia-based freelance business consultant who runs iBeacon with his wife, said they deliberately ditched Bluetooth as a connectivity option to keep setup simpler and the price of the device down. <P> This is not the first external notification device for cell phones. HTC tried and missed a few years back with its HTC Bliss phone equipped with a dangling bauble that lit up when a call was missed. HTC pitched the phone at women, with "female friendly" features. Although it comes in a range of colors, the iBeacon is gender agnostic and has more features, aimed at both men and women. <P> <strong>[ Check out this roundup of smartphones that offer the convenience of a keyboard: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/smart-phones/smartphones-with-physical-keyboards/240152965?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Smartphones With Physical Keyboards</a>. ]</strong> <P> This is Pathak's first company. After graduating from the prestigious London University Imperial College with a masters in electronic engineering in 2000, he worked for several firms starting with telecoms equipment giant Alcatel, in a number of roles in both Europe, the U.S. and finally Singapore, where he says he got the name for the product. The husband-and-wife team have been developing their product ever since, obtaining important design expertise from a Singapore consultancy called <a href="http://www.karuma.sg/">Karuma</a>, which built the original TomTom satellite navigation system. <P> Pathak said he's spent several months showcasing the product to British consumer electronics and mobile firms, who are not willing to commit to stocking the iBeacon before they get a better sense of whether it has commercial potential. Hence his just-launched <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/876139185/the-ibeacon-the-answer-to-your-missed-calls">Kickstarter campaign</a>, a platform he says is "ideal" for the kind of outreach and market testing needed by small British tech firms like his. <P> Pathak has found contract manufacturers in the U.K. to manufacture the iBeacon in mass volume but that "the next step requires funds to buy the plastic injection molds (tooling) which are quite expensive [and] we also need to place an order with the manufacturer which meets [its] minimum order volume," according to the Kickstarter campaign. <P> "I think the kind of people who support campaigns on Kickstarter are people who like both innovative ideas like ours but who also want to support new and promising businesses," said Pathak.